so it is TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!! OMFGoodness, i thought my teacher was Sh**ing me when he said the homeless ppl in japan acutally form their homes out of tarp and stuff. thanks soo much jinksys, now this is the kind of REAL stuff ppl need to see more often.

my teacher even said they have electricty in those tarps by "juicing" it from sources..

homelessness is an odd thing. i wouldn't wish it upon a family, or children... but otherwise, it's quite an experience. was homeless for about 2 years. a sequence of events came about and the options available were: work a **** job for months trying to make ends meet and save up enough to get on with life, or just walk out the door. since i had done the first before, i chose the second. i shaved my head, stuffed some clothes in a backpack and headed out the door. i spent two years sleeping in abandoned buildings, parks, under freeway bridges and the like. met lots of interesting people, disenfranchised, junkies, crazies, carnies, killers... i became adept at panhandling and snap judgement of people....

i finally saw Tokyo Godfathers a few weeks ago and it brought back such interesting memories of that time. (no missing babies or anything like that ) but of the community that there is in homelessness...

reno > i agree, no matter how poor or bad the situation, the ppl of japan seem to be soo communal rather than 'everyone saves their own asses'

alien > its not that ppl think homelessness is weird or strange, it can happen to anyone or anyfamily. its just .. well in my expeirience here in my area, ppl arent really homeless, they are lazy posers who refuse to work, they are ppl who are mentally ill, and they are ppl who have families. these "homeless" people are common in teh bay area and frisco. ppl here know they have homes, so that's why they refuse to give change/money and whatnot. i can usually tell right off the bat just by looking at their teeth, or hair, or clothes if they are really homelss or not. but homeless or not really homeless, i still give them spare change ..

Last edited by TrilinguisT on Fri 06.23.2006 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I really don't like seeing homeless people It makes me sad, espesially when im eating in front of them. Even when I have money I want to give them some but I don't... it's weird

Look what they made of the situation, helping eachother and making a living together to get through, real productivity there!

Yeah, it could be like a city if they get enough people. But That's pretty cool I always thought to myself why homeless people didn't form a homeless people association..

Some homeless people can be really stupid though, In vancouver when I go there every summer I see a bunch of people (homeless) doing drugs, they complain they dont have money but when they get money they just spen it on drugs..

i can usually tell right off the bat just by looking at their teeth, or hair, or clothes if they are really homelss or not. but homeless or not really homeless,

there is a difference between being homeless and destitute. A large percentage of the homeless in America have cars and jobs. They just lack the house. Either they don't have jobs with enough hours and pay, or they are subject to wage garnishment due to one reason or another and cannot afford a house after the pay. They could also just be homeless as they save up for the initial deposit, or they could be homeless even though they have a good job and car, but have such poor credit that no one will let them sign a lease. Then there are the more standard homeless people that are just moving from one place ot another or their house burned down, or they just got out of prison and haven't saved enough yet. In short, you cannot look at someone and tell whether they are homeless or not.

There are many reasons to be homeless but not destitute. There are only three reasons to be both homeless and destitute, drugs, lazieness, and mental illness. The first two deserve their situation. If anything they need to have their situation become even more intolerable so they get motivated to change it themselves, instead of whining for others to change it for them.

As I've been homeless several times as a child and twice as an adult, I really have little pity for beggars. If I fall down and get bad luck, like getting laid off, I claw my way back up. Because if this, I was never homeless for more than a year. But I still want to hit people in the face for being so rude as to ask me for money. Especially people that ask for change. If I ever needed money I never asked for change. If I needed $40 for a bus ride when my car got totaled 2 hours away from my home on a trip to D.C., I asked one person for $40 not 80 people for 50 cents.

Having experienced both being homeless with and without a car, and having a home, but no car, I'd rather have the car and miss the home. When I had a home but no car, it took my 5 years of saving to buy a car again. By the time I had a car and could go to college again, my G.I. bill was no longer available. Without a car my choices of where I could work alse became severly limited. Without the house I could just pitch a tent somewhere and go to a park or community center for my hygenic needs.

Which is another reason I have little respect for beggars. I can say this with authority. Being poor is no excuse for poor hygene. If a beggar is dirty, stinky, and asks for change. Then they have no self respect and if they don't respect themselves, then I'm certianly not going to respect them either. Anything you do for them is just going to perpetuate their condition, which they have no intention of getting out of because they have no self respect. It doesn't take money to be clean. It just takes time, and if you don't have a job, you have nothing but time. Even if you can't afford soap, plain water makes a huge difference.

On the other hand, If a beggar comes up and obviously has a lot of self respect, they are clean, their eyes shine, and they ask for a useful amount of money, then you know they really are one of those people that are a victim of circumstance and any aid you give will be used to get them back on their feet. These people I help if I can. Partially because I know I'm really helping them and partially to repay those that helped me.

Last edited by Infidel on Sat 06.24.2006 1:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

I remember speaking to one guy who said every summer he went to cali by hitching rides with people and begging. He claimed to make around $300 a day, and said he was doing them a favor. He made them feel better about themselves, made them think they were good people by giving him money...

i usually feel awkward and dont give money (though sometimes i feel bad too) but i do remember my mother telling me that some beggars have expensive houses etc. that they rent and end up having huge sums of money - they're simply too lazy to work so they just beg for the money they invest elsewhere. about a year ago, there was a old beggar woman on the road to the supermarket - my mom didnt like her one bit (not that she doesnt like people just for being beggars though). i wondered why, but when she told me she'd seen the woman count a fat stack of paper money she had hidden, and had quickly stashed it away when she saw my mom, along with asking for money in a pitiful voice, i figured i shouldnt pity people like that. that woman probably made a lot more money than my mom (which is well-paid) and all of it was untaxed and made out of nothing but sitting on a pavement.

i always wondered about what these people can do for themselves, but i never knew how it was so i just figured there should be some care from the state. though after infidel and zengargoyle's posts, i guess standing on your feet from a homeless state is more a matter of personal effort rather than a matter of being salvaged.

You know you've been hanging around a forum too long when people start quoting you and agreeing